In prior art communication switching systems, call forwarding is a well known feature. This feature allows a user to transfer an incoming call from the user's telephone set to another telephone set. In addition, it is known within computer systems to be able to transfer electronic mail from the logon of one user to the logon of another user. In telephone systems, the call forwarding feature is invoked by the user of a telephone dialing a special code that is recognized by the communication system serving the user's telephone set as a code invoking call forwarding. After invoking call forwarding, the user then dials the extension to which the user wishes calls to be forwarded. In addition, published European Patent Office Patent Application EP 536949 discloses a telecommunication system in which telephone calls are automatically forwarded to a telephone set that is near a radio pager. The forwarded calls are intended for the user of the pager.
The problem with call forwarding is that the user of the target telephone (the telephone receiving the forwarded telephone calls) has no control over the prior art call forwarding features. The result is that a user of a telephone set is bothered by undesired forwarded calls. Such calls can result due to the previously described pager or as a result of an individual making a mistake when invoking the call forwarding feature.